Author: UConn Journalism

Report for America Info Session on Nov. 15

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Report for America (RFA) is a movement to strengthen communities, and our democracy, through local journalism that is truthful, fair, fearless and smart.

RFA is growing its journalism team. Applications open in December for 100+ journalism jobs.

Join the Report for America info session on November 15 at 9:30 am in OAK 408 to learn about the organization and job opportunities.

Report for America helps local newsrooms report on under-covered issues and communities by helping them find great emerging or experienced journalists and paying half their salary. Corps members are talented, service-oriented journalists who provide residents with the information they need to improve their communities and hold powerful institutions accountable. There are currently 300 RFA reporters and photographers in 200+ newsrooms serving communities across the U.S.

 

Spring 2023 Journalism Course Offerings

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ELECTIVES

Introduction to Sports Journalism
JOUR1095: Special Topics
This course is open to all majors and will introduce students to the history of sports reporting, the evolution of sports media, the influence of sports on culture, and the fundamentals of sports journalism -- including sourcing, interviewing, writing and production of sports stories on various platforms. Instructor is Steve Buckheit, an award-winning features producer at ESPN.

 Journalism in the Movies
JOUR2010 (CA-1)
Open to all majors. Students will watch and discuss motion pictures with journalism themes. Many of the films are about important cases in journalism, U.S. and international history. The rest are fictional representations of journalistic stories and scenarios. Themes from the films that will be examined include: the nature of news, historical development of the press, journalism ethics and law, diversity in the news, newsroom dynamics and relationships, and the fields of broadcast and investigative journalism. The course satisfies a General Education requirement for history.

Art of the Interview in Documentary Film
JOUR2095: Special Topics
This production course will explore approaches to navigating the technical and ethical considerations of preparing for and conducting filmed interviews. Develop essential tools of documentary film production, such as research, interview aesthetics and formal approaches, and post-production uses of recorded interviews. Coursework will provide students with a range of long-form and short-form documentaries, from intimate direct to camera interviews to talking heads. Students will work independently and collaboratively on interview assignments and exercises that deepen their communication and understanding of how recorded interviews drive narratives forward.

TV & Video News Programming
JOUR2095: Special Topics
This course teaches students the steps required to build an online video or TV newscast. It is excellent preparation for students who plan to work in broadcast, cable or online news. Learning how a recurring news program is built, planned and executed is also important preparation for students who plan entrepreneurial endeavors or who may be called upon to produce video programming in a recurring format for social service organizations or commercial industry. This course may be of particular interest to students who plan to take advanced courses in audio and video journalism, podcasting, or to those who intend to participate in UCTV.

Feature Writing
JOUR3012W
Feature writing is the art of storytelling. It contains the elements of fiction writing –vivid scenes, strong characters, a narrative arc –but is grounded in dogged reporting and sharp observation. It can be off-beat or topical, funny or sad. Unlike a straight news story that simply presents the facts, a good feature goes beyond to put those facts into some larger context and provide deeper meaning. A good feature is imaginative, original and authentic. This class will teach you how to write features, from developing ideas to effective reporting and interviewing skills to organizing and writing stories. Students will explore different types of features, including profiles, trend stories and human-interest stories. Students will learn by doing, by writing and re-writing, by reading lots of features and dissecting one another’s work.

Design for Digital Journalists
JOUR3031
This course introduces editorial design to journalism students. Learn the fundamentals of visual communication design as applied to modern media. Topics include design principles, aesthetics, social media, intuitive design, typography, layout, photo editing, color theory, motion graphics, and informational graphics.  Think critically and creatively about designing material for diverse audiences. Learn how to assess and critique visual journalism work.

Newswriting for Broadcast & Digital
JOUR3040: (formerly Audio & Video Reporting and Writing)
Application of newswriting and news reporting techniques for broadcast, digital video and digital audio. Practical use of digital media recording equipment and professional audio/video editing software.

Reporting & Editing TV News
JOUR3041
This is an advanced broadcast journalism class that teaches students how to gather, edit and deliver accurate, newsworthy information for television newscasts. Students develop the skills needed to report news and organize newscasts through actual experience in and out of class.

Business Reporting
JOUR3045: Specialized Journalism
Learn the basics of the business and financial news beat.  Sharpen your skills telling stories about money, jobs, the economy, entrepreneurs, workers and labor unions, companies and consumers. 

Environmental Journalism
JOUR3046
Explores specialized coverage of environmental issues by journalists, emphasizing news reporting with the opportunity to produce print, visual and multimedia news reports.

Visual Journalism
JOUR3065
Examines current trends in visual digital journalism; develops skills in photojournalism, multimedia and video storytelling. Instructor approved digital camera required.

Black Documentary Film Archival Practices
JOUR3575/AFRA3575
Critical and historical examination of Black American archival usage through documentary films and media.

Video Storytelling
JOUR4065 (formerly Advanced Visual Journalism)
Explores journalistic storytelling techniques through video. Students will learn how to gather video and audio content and develop production and post-production techniques to create and publish extended narrative multimedia projects.

Supervised Field Internship
JOUR4091

Introduction to Sports Journalism
JOUR2095 Documentary Interviewing
JOURNALISM IN THE MOVIES poster
Business Reporting, Spring 2023

CORE COURSES

Press in America
JOUR1002

Newswriting I
JOUR2000W

Newswriting II
JOUR2001W

Portfolio I: Multimedia Skills
JOUR2111

Journalism Ethics
JOUR3002

Media Law
JOUR3020
Analyze First Amendment issues (speech and press) with clarity and accuracy. Navigate laws regulating newsgathering and publication. Create effective public records requests. Analyze and obtain court records. Develop strategies to avoid libel and defamation. Understand the history of U.S. statutes and legal precedents that have shaped modern media law. Evaluate how restrictions on free expression have historically targeted minority groups and dissidents
and the conundrum of regulating hate speech in the U.S. Understand the U.S. protections of a free press and freedom of expression in a global context.

Multiplatform Editing
JOUR3030 (formerly The Editor's Craft)

Portfolio II - Multimedia Production
JOUR3111

Portfolio III - Professional Presentation
JOUR4111

Journalism Internship and Involvement Fair on Oct. 12

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Internship and Involvement Fair

Great turnout for our UConn Journalism Internship and Involvement Fair in Oak Hall. Thanks to all our presenters including The Connecticut Examiner, The Daily Campus, WHUS Radio, UConn Nutmeg Publishing, UCTV, The Connecticut Mirror, UConn Sports Business Association, Long River Review and The Writing Minor.

UConn Journalism Faculty

UConn Journalism faculty members Christine Woodside, Steven G. Smith and Amanda Crawford talked with students about memberships in professional organizations such as SEJ, NPPA and JAWS.

Internship and Involvement Fair

Grace McFadden of WHUS Radio recruited students to join UConn's student run radio station.

The UConn Journalism Department hosted a Journalism Involvement and Internship Fair on Wednesday October 12 from 4:30 to 6 p.m. on the 4th Floor of Oak Hall (outside Oak 439).

Students from any major could learn about paid and for-credit internships in TV, radio, digital & print news, multimedia production, social media and audience engagement.

Students discovered media-related experiential activities on and off campus, including opportunities in writing, reporting, photography, audio and video production, design and social media.

Participating organizations included: The Daily Campus, UCTV, WHUS, Nutmeg Publishing, Planet Forward, The Connecticut Mirror's Student Voices Project, Connecticut Public, The CT Examiner, The Writing Minor, UConn Sports Business Association, UConn Championship Labs and Society of Professional Journalists.

Sign up here: http://s.uconn.edu/journalismfair

Questions? Email journalism@uconn.edu

Internship and Involvement Fair, October 2022

UConn Journalism students chatted with Kyle Constable '16, membership director at The Connecticut Mirror, about Spring and Summer internships.

What We Did This Summer: Fellowships, Internships, Research

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During summer 2022, UConn Journalism faculty and students were engaged with research, internships and more. Here's a sampling of what we accomplished.

Internship at WCVB Channel 5 in Boston

UConn junior Sophia Dover, center, completed a summer internship at WCVB News Center 5, the ABC News affiliate in Boston. She worked in the creative service department, which gave her the opportunity to experience every step of the production process. Sophia participated in daily newsroom meetings, attended live field shoots, wrote topical and promotional scripts, as well as edited numerous pieces that appeared on air. She also shadowed anchors and producers during live newscasts, learning the ins and outs of the broadcasting process in front and behind the camera. The two anchors pictured are Maria Stephanos and Ed Harding. 

Fulbright Fellowship, Leyte, Philippines

Department Head Marie K. Shanahan spent three months in the Philippines at Leyte Normal University in Tacloban City. Shanahan helped teach a summer course, presented twice on campus, mentored students interested in journalism careers and interviewed local journalists. She also toured the U.S. Embassy in Manila.

Prof. Shanahan poses with Leyte Normal University students and faculty after giving a presentation on July 22, 2022.

Prof. Shanahan poses with Leyte Normal University students and faculty after giving a presentation on "News Attitudes and Pathways" on July 22, 2022.

Shanahan talks with veteran radio journalist Louie Quebec at the DYVL studio in Tacloban City, Philippines.

Prof. Marie K. Shanahan talks with veteran Filipina radio journalist Louie Quebec at the DYVL studio in Tacloban City, Philippines.

Posing in front of the oldest building on the Leyte Normal University campus in Tacloban City.

Posing in front of the oldest building on the Leyte Normal University campus in Tacloban City.

Fulbright Philippines office in Mandaluyong, Metro Manila, Philippines.

Fulbright Philippines office in Mandaluyong, Metro Manila, Philippines.

Production Operations Internship at ESPN

UConn senior Julia Gintof, a journalism and communications double major, spent her summer as a Disney Media & Entertainment Distribution Production Operations intern at ESPN Headquarters in Bristol. She was trained and mentored as a cleared media playout operator. Julia operated on her own during the last month of her internship on shows such as SportsCenter, First Take, and NFL Live.

Julia Gintof at ESPN
Control room at ESPN

Internship at NBC Connecticut

UConn senior Kaitlin Patch '23 worked as a creative services summer intern at NBC Connecticut. Her role involved promoting news stories on social media. She selected the most important part of a news package and edited it down to a minute-long video post or reel for Instagram. She also photographed on location for Instagram stories, picture posts, and reels.

Kaitlin Patch at NBC Connecticut

Internship at Washington Post Creative Group

UConn senior Christie Wang worked as an editorial intern for the Washington Post Creative Group, the branded content team at the Washington Post. Working on the Creative Leads team, she experienced the full life-cycle of custom advertising from pre-sale to post-sale. She wrote proposal copy, article copy, headlines and promo copy for branded content stories. She also imagined and pitched creative partnerships to clients. Christie's internship was based out of New York, but she took a trip to the DC office to help out with and attend a WP Live event.

Washington Post office

Research into UConn’s land-grant heritage in Michigan

Profs. Mike Stanton and Steven G. Smith traveled to Native American land in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula as part of their research into UConn’s land-grant heritage. As a land-grant university, UConn benefited from thousands of acres of Native American land.

UConn journalism professor Mike Stanton talks with Tribal Council Members of the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community in Baraga, Michigan.

UConn journalism professor Mike Stanton talks with Tribal Council Members of the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community in Baraga, Michigan.

Kingsley Forcia and his brother await their opportunity to dance in the grand entry of the 44th annual Maawanji'ding or Powwow at the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community in Baraga, Michigan.

Kingsley Forcia and his brother await their opportunity to dance in the grand entry of the 44th annual Maawanji'ding or Powwow at the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community in Baraga, Michigan. The L'Anse Reservation is the oldest and largest reservation in Michigan and was established by the Chippewa treaty of 1854. The reservation is home to the federally recognized Keweenaw Bay Indian Community of the Lake Superior Band of Chippewa. Photo by Steven G. Smith

Prof. Steve Smith is pictured here several hundred feet underground at the Quincy Mine, once the biggest copper mining company in America.

Prof. Steve Smith is pictured here several hundred feet underground at the Quincy Mine, once the biggest copper mining company in America. The two UConn Journalism professors got a private tour as part of their research into UConn’s land-grant heritage. As a land-grant university, UConn benefited from thousands of acres of Native American land in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. The biggest buyer was the president of the Quincy Mining Co.

Congressional Campaign Communications Internship

UConn senior Carson Swick worked as an intern for Lisa Scheller, a candidate in Pennsylvania’s 7th congressional district. Scheller faces Democrat Susan Wild in November. Carson is a journalism and political science double major who contributes to the Daily Campus as a copyeditor and opinion writer. He is pictured here at left with House Republican Whip Steve Scalise, center, and Scheller.

 

 

Corporate Communications Internship at Lockheed Martin

UConn senior Samara Thacker worked as an intern with Lockheed Martin for the second summer in a row.  She supported the company's Rotary and Mission Systems business, crafting newsletters and producing videos to educate and engage employees.  Samara said she enjoys “the great sense of community that the company provides for interns” including mentoring and networking opportunities. Previously, she produced and hosted seven episodes of The Lockheed Martin Intern Experience Podcast. Samara is a Journalism major with minors in Communications and Africana Studies

samara-thacker-internship

Opinion internship, Record Journal in Meriden

Madeline Papcun completed summer internship in the editorial department at the Meriden Record-Journal. The journalism and human development & family sciences double major helped craft and write weekly editorials, ran a weekly column and fact-checked op-eds. She also pitched in with interviewing, editing and some news coverage. She says she’s excited to bring the experience she gained in the field back to UConn.

Reporting and social media internship, Connecticut Health Investigative Team

Colleen Lucey, a journalism and political science double major, worked as a summer intern for the Connecticut Health Investigative Team. She reported and wrote health-related stories for a younger audience, ages 18-40, and created posts for the C-HIT the Instagram page. C-HIT is an online publication that focuses on Connecticut health, public safety and environmental news. 

 

 

 

‘Landfall’ documentary screening and Q&A event on Oct. 13

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The Department of Journalism will host an in-person screening and Q&A for the documentary LANDFALL, on Thursday, Oct. 13.

Screening Time: 12:30 - 2 p.m.

Filmmaker Q&A, moderated by Assistant Professor Martine Granby: 2:00 pm - 3:15pm

Location: Gant North 020

About the Film: Through shard-like glimpses of everyday life in post-Hurricane María Puerto Rico, LANDFALL is a cautionary tale for our times. Set against the backdrop of protests that toppled the US colony’s governor in 2019, the film offers a prismatic portrait of collective trauma and resistance.

While the devastation of María attracted a great deal of media coverage, the world has paid far less attention to the storm that preceded it: a 72-billion-dollar debt crisis crippling Puerto Rico well before the winds and waters hit. LANDFALL examines the kinship of these two storms—one environmental, the other economic—juxtaposing competing utopian visions of recovery.

Featuring intimate encounters with Puerto Ricans as well as the newcomers flooding the island, LANDFALL reflects on a question of contemporary global relevance: when the world falls apart, who do we become?

This event is cosponsored by: Department of Journalism, Humanities Institute, el Instituto: Institute of Latina/o. Caribbean and Latin American Studies, the Women's Gender and Sexuality Studies and the Africana Studies Institute

Register for the event: s.uconn.edu/landfall

'Landfall' Movie Poster

'Landfall' Poster

Director Cecilia Aldarondo

Director Cecilia Aldarondo

Associate Producer Lale Namerrow Pastor

Associate Producer Lale Namerrow Pastor

Scenes from ‘Landfall’

Scenes from ‘Landfall’
Water bottles in a pile
Crowd in the streets of Puerto Rico

Crawford’s research on mass shootings and misinformation featured in Boston Globe Magazine

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When 26 people were murdered at the school in Newtown, Conn., in 2012, the ugliness of social media collided with parents’ grief in a way the world had never seen.

In Boston Globe Magazine, UConn Journalism Assistant Professor Amanda J. Crawford tells the story of the Pozner family and their fight against a dual national tragedy — mass shootings and misinformation.

Read the story at bostonglobe.com »

Wallace reports for NatGeo about a besieged Amazon where indigenous people are taking up cameras to save their land

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The homeland of the Uru-Eu-Wau-Wau people is being consumed by flames as settlers raze the forest for pastures. Beef production accounts for the majority of deforestation.
(SCREENGRAB COURTESY AMAZON LAND DOCUMENTARY/NAT GEO)

UConn Journalism Associate Professor Scott Wallace reports for National Geographic on a new documentary co-produced by Indigenous filmmakers who are taking up cameras to save their land in the Amazon from deforestation.

"Encouraged by the inflammatory rhetoric of Brazil’s rightwing populist president, Jair Bolsonaro, a new wave of highly organized settlers began to push into the Uru-Eu-Wau-Wau Indigenous Territory in 2019. The tribe’s courageous efforts to defend its land and traditions in the face of these threats is the subject of the new documentary, The Territory."

Read the full story at nationalgeographic.com »

Alumni Spotlight: Emily Durgin ’17 on How to Run a Marathon — or a 5k

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Emily Durgin sits on grass next to running track, pair of sneakers beside herAfter her top-10 finish in the 10K final at the 2021 Olympic trials, Emily Durgin ’17 (CLAS), who won nine American Athletic Conference individual championships at UConn while earning her journalism and communications degree, decided to take it up a notch.

She plans to move to marathon distance for a run at the 2024 trials. “I knew going for an Olympic team in 2021 was a bit of a reach,” Durgin says. “I was very happy to finish ninth. It told me — hey, I can make this team. Just have fun with it.”

Moving to marathons will include a buildup period and the Standish, Maine, native is looking at the Boston Marathon as a possible early measuring stick.

However, she says, “Boston can be challenging because of the downhill and uphill. I have to make sure the first one doesn’t beat me up.”

Taking things too fast is a trap both professional and novice runners can easily fall into, says Durgin. She advises against overtraining and trying to do too much too quickly.

Read the full story at UConn Magazine »

Crawford among UConn researchers offering tools and perspectives to reduce gun violence in the US

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Left to Right: Kerri Raissian, Lisa Singh, Amanda Crawford, Jeremy Stein, and David Pucino speak at a Gun Violence Misinformation Panel at the Hartford Times Building on April 5, 2022. (Contributed Photo)

 

Buffalo, New York. Laguna Woods, California. Uvalde, Texas. In little more than a week, three more places have been added to a uniquely American geography of terror and grief.

In this shadow landscape, all the familiar features of a normal town are present – schools, places of worship, grocery stores, offices – but are here transformed into killing fields and memorials to unimaginable loss.

Each new addition to this grim map also brings a familiar ritual of public angst and political sloganeering. Politicians stand in front of television cameras and say the same things they said after the last massacre, while citizens take to social media and reuse the posts they’ve been sharing multiple times a year, for many years.

The numbing familiarity of those responses can provoke the hopeless conviction that American society is trapped in a perpetual cycle of horror.

The reality is that there are things that can be done, even in America’s polarized climate, to make these massacres – and the steady march of less publicized gun deaths that happen every day – less likely to occur.

UConn faculty members are at the forefront of doing the research and gathering the data needed to approach gun violence differently, and to craft real solutions to the problem. The UConn ARMS Center (Advancing Research, Methods, and Scholarship for Gun Injury Prevention), which includes the Gun Violence Prevention-Research Interest Group, connects scholars, advocates, and policymakers to seek solutions for reducing all forms of gun violence, ranging from mass shootings to suicide to accidental shootings.

ARMS brings together nearly two dozen researchers looking at the issue of gun violence, including Amanda Crawford, assistant professor in journalism, who studies dissemination of misinformation in the context of mass shootings.

Read the full story at UConn Today »